(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two men were arrested on separate charges, Thursday afternoon. 67-year-old Robert Charles Carlson, of Omaha, was arrested at the Lancaster County, NE. Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Violation of Probation. Carlson was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.

And, 24-year-old Devin Michael Ramirez, of Bellevue, NE., was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance. Bond was set at $1,000.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office report 36-year-old David Allen Coenen, of Lewis, was arrested Wednesday, on a Pottawattamie County warrant. The warrant was issued for Failure to Appear (in court). Coenen was transported to Cass County Jail and held, pending transport to Pottawattamie County.

And, on October 14th, Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to an accident on White Pole Road and 560th St., near Lewis.  Authorities says James Benjamin Overman, of Griswold, was driving a 1998 Chevy pickup was traveling west bound on White Pole, when an unknown vehicle, traveling eastbound, crossed the center line and struck the left side of Overman’s vehicle. The unknown vehicle left the scene and was not located.  No injuries were reported.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Cindy Axne says after fielding complaints from constituents waiting for answers from the Social Security Administration, she’s introduced a bill requiring more staff be assigned to answer phone calls. In-person appointments at local Social Security offices have been canceled during the pandemic and Axne says many Iowans cannot connect online for a virtual appointment. “What’s happened is our older Iowans have had to turn to the 1-800 number, the hotline that’s been set up, to talk to a live person,” Axne says, “but here’s where the rub is: folks in Iowa aren’t reaching these live people.”

Axne, a Democrat from West Des Moines, says she’s heard from constituents who’ve waited on hold for hours, but never reached a real person and instead waded through recorded messages to try to find answers. “What that means to me is that it’s really not a hotline then and so this needs to be fixed,” Axne says. The Social Security’s toll-free automated hotline is meant to connect callers with a real person who works in a nearby Social Security office, but Axne says that’s not happening.

Cindy Axne. (photo from conference call.)

Axne’s bill directs the Social Security Administration to assign more staff to answer phones Monday through Friday during regular business hours — 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. “My bill doesn’t ask taxpayers to spend an extra dime,” Axne says. “What it does is ask the Social Security Administration to be more effective and efficient.”

The Iowa Association of Area Agencies on Aging has endorsed Axne’s bill. Joe Sample, the association’s executive director, says many older adults, especially those in rural Iowa, may not have access to the internet. “Use of technology can, at times, be the very roadblock or barrier that prevents an older adult from getting what they need,” Sample says. “In 20 years, it might be that older adults will have access to affordable technology and navigating websites will be more comfortable, but that day is not today.”

Two other Democrats in the House are joining Axne’s call for more Social Security staff to answer the telephones. Congressman Tim Ryan is running for Ohio’s open U.S. Senate seat in 2022 and Congresswoman Val Demings is running to challenge Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio in 2022.

(Radio Iowa) – The closure of a wind turbine blade factory in Newton will be a blow to the area, but an Iowa State University economist says it won’t have the same impact as when Maytag left the community. T-P-I Composites started making blades in Newton about a year after Maytag quit making washing machines in 2007. T-P-I plans to stop production and lay off more than 700 workers by the end of this year. I-S-U economist Liesl Eathington says that’s a lot of jobs for a city of 15-thousand, but the impact is more isolated because T-P-I has fewer ties to local suppliers. Eathington says, “Because that firm was not as deeply rooted into the local economy as Maytag had been, I don’t think the consequences are going to be felt as much.”

(Public domain photo) TPI wind blade manufacturing in Newton, IA.

Eathington says the economies of Newton and Jasper County are also more connected to the Des Moines area since Maytag closed, which adds stability to the local economy. T-P-I made blades for General Electric, but G-E purchased a rival blade manufacturer and has ended its relationship with T-P-I. It’s a setback for Newton but -not- a sign the wind industry is on the decline. The wind industry is on a growth trajectory, according to Pavel Molchanov, a stock analyst who covers T-P-I for the investment firm Raymond James. He says with G-E out, a new customer could come in.  Molchanov says, “In fact, very likely there will be a replacement customer to buy blades from this factory, but it’s not going to happen instantaneously.”

He says it won’t come soon enough to keep 710 workers from being laid off. I-S-U’s Eathington says because of the overall labor shortage in Iowa, other employers in the area are likely to recruit T-P-I workers to fill open positions.

(reporting by Grant Gerlock, Iowa Public Radio)